When he came over from Europe this summer, it was to try out for the NHL and give the Leafs a bit more snarl for their third or fourth lines. Thanks to the lockout, he started the season in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies but now the team is loaning him to Dynamo Moscow in the KHL.

Komarov was picked by the Leafs in the sixth round of the 2006 draft but played in Finland and Russia before coming over to North America this season.

“Is there the desire to retain Alexander Ovechkin at Dynamo after the NHL lockout? Dynamo has such thoughts,” Rotenberg explained. “I heard that there are those thoughts too at the Army Sports Club in St. Petersburg.

“So we are looking in that direction, we’ll see whether it’ll work out.”

The “Army Sports Club” line is in reference to Ilya Kovalchuk, currently plying his trade with SKA St. Petersburg.

It seems SKA is equally interested in retaining Kolvalchuk’s services — since joining, the Devils sniper has racked up 26 points in 16 games.

Oh yeah, he’s also served as team captain.

With CBA talks heating up, many European clubs are bracing for the potential departure of their locked-out NHL stars — so it’s not surprising KHL clubs are already exploring the option of retaining players.

An NHL contract, which is called a “Standard Player Contract” or an “SPC”, provides at Section 14(b) that a team has the right to terminate a contract if that player shall “fail, refuse or neglect to render his services hereunder or in any other manner materially breach this Contract”.

Not rendering services would include not showing up for work. So while Ovechkin and/or Kovalchuk wouldn’t be in a position to challenge the validity of their contracts, they could elect not to return to the NHL, thereby setting in motion a series of events that would end with their clubs terminating their contracts.

Before termination, that same SPC at Section 4 says that a team can suspend a player without pay for not discharging the obligations under his contract. Again, that would include not playing for the team.

Their teams could also look to sue for breach of contract, which would entitle them to an award of monetary damages. They wouldn’t, however, be able to sue to force the players to come back and play.

Macramalla also notes the understanding between the KHL and NHL to honor each others’ contracts would come into play. There would be pressure on the KHL to not allow either to play, but it would be just that — pressure.

OK the video is a bit weird as we get to see Ovechkin get undressed outside the locker room to get the glass out of his equipment and he apparently gets his hand worked on as well. All that destruction from just his head though? Yowza.

One of the surprise stories of the 2010 playoffs was the impressive play of Miroslav Satan.

The book on Satan (aside from the fact that his name produces obvious devil puns in print, even if it’s pronounced differently than that of the dark lord/Slayer inspiration) is that he was a talented but troublesome player during his days as the Buffalo Sabres’ most potent offensive weapon. Yet he more or less flopped in the post-lockout era, as he couldn’t even make it work on Sidney Crosby’s line in Pittsburgh.

But there he was as an afterthought pickup with the Boston Bruins during the 2009-10 season, until he became a major factor in the playoffs. He scored five goals and five assists for 10 points in 13 postseason games, including an impressive three game winners.